Did you know that you have an anointing for increase and expansion?
I mean – you and I have been anointed to Success, live an abundant life and overflow with peace and joy of the Lord! Whilst religious and traditional people claim that this is all ungodly and selfish, you need to know that prosperity is God’s will for you.
Have you ever noticed that the Scriptures don’t say God will give you just enough to get by? Instead, the Bible uses words like overflow, plentiful and abundance. God wants to do exceedingly, abundantly above all we can even ask or think (Ephesians 3:19-21), and He tells us that His only plans for us are success (Jeremiah 29:11). That’s a prosperous life!
God wants to bless us with whole-life prosperity to establish His covenant with us, He wants to give us life more abundantly, and empower us to bless others and further the gospel of Jesus Christ. The idea that God wants His people sick, sad or living in poverty is completely against His Word and His very nature.
Isaiah 54:2-3; “Enlarge the place of thy tent and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left…”.
As a believer, there’s an anointing in you for increase and expansion. You received that anointing when the Holy Spirit came to live in you. That anointing causes everything you do to grow and expand.
The anointing can cause everything you do to multiply and expand far above what you can ask, think, or imagine. God wants you to recognize that anointing and let it function in you and through you.
Philemon 1:6 says, “That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.”
You have in you the seed of greatness; it’s your birth-right as Abraham’s seed. If you look through the scriptures and study the lives of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, you’ll find that no matter how they started, they ended up expanding to the point that they became the dominant forces wherever they went. If it was so for them, then your story should be even more glorious, for you’re the seed of Abraham through Christ (Galatians 3:29).
The natural progression of your life should be one of increase and expansion; everything you do should grow and prosper exceedingly.
Prosperity is more than finances
The Bible declare’s there in 3rd John 1:2; “I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.”
Whenever someone mentions “the prosperity gospel,” especially in a negative sense, they are referring to money only. That’s certainly part of living life more abundantly, but that isn’t all Jesus had in mind. It would be easy to settle for spiritual prosperity, but that type of spiritual laziness does not bring glory to God and give full honor to what Jesus paid for us to enjoy here on earth. It is the will of God for us to be made whole—spirit, soul and body—and to be kept that way until the return of our Lord Jesus Christ (see 1 Thessalonians 5:23).
Types of prosperity…
- Spiritual Prosperity. To prosper spiritually, you must be born again. When you accept Jesus as your Savior and make Him the Lord of your life, your spirit is reborn and brought into fellowship with the Father, Almighty God.
- Emotional Prosperity. True peace and joy cannot be found in this world without Christ. That’s why we see people remarrying over and over, using antidepressants, contemplating suicide, tearing other people down, using drugs or even questioning their God-given gender. That is not the abundant life Jesus came to give us, and it is anything but prosperity. Jesus fills the voids: He brings answers where there were questions, confidence where there was insecurity, hope where there was once hopelessness.
- Mental Prosperity. The world thinks of mental prosperity as simply “knowing it all,” but God had something much better in mind. Mental prosperity includes revelation knowledge, mental abilities beyond our own, and a sharp mind until the day we go home to heaven. It means casting down imaginations and being in control of your own thoughts.
- Physical Prosperity. The world’s system of healing makes a god of the hospital and a god of medicine. Actually, for the most part, it leaves God out entirely, and without God, it will not work! God has a better way. He wants you to walk in supernatural and divine health all the days of your life.
- Relational Prosperity. Only God can truly prosper you in the area of relationships. He is the giver of good and perfect gifts. He can bring reconciliation where the world would say all hope is lost, and He can grant you a strong and lasting marriage, and healthy family relationships and friendships. There is a special peace in relational prosperity. He wants you to have it.
- Accomplishment Prosperity. In other words—favor. When you have favor, it opens doors for you and causes things to go your way—even when, in the natural, it may not seem possible. When you succeed at something, you prosper. God desires us to have success in life!
- Financial Prosperity. If a man came to you needing clothes and you didn’t have any clothes to give, both of you would be in trouble. We are to prosper so that we might provide abundantly for our own families, bless those around us, and fund the work of the kingdom of God here on earth.
The anointing to be a lender and NOT a borrower
Deuteronomy 28:43-45 says: “…thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee…”
We clearly see in God’s word that it is His choice for us to be lenders, not borrowers. And throughout scripture, God asked people to bring what they had, and He blessed the little they had (Mark 6:41). But He never asked them to go and borrow or to bring what they do not have.
God will never ask you for what you do not have, but He sees what you have and if it requires your faith to release the little you have, then He asks for your faith on the little you have. When Jesus saw the multitude, He asked “How many loaves do you have?” ” When they found out, they said, “Five–and two fish”. The question is “how much do you have”? Jesus took the 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread, gave thanks & blessed it and then God multiplied it! God can only bless what you have.
Sadly, many so-called prophets use 1 Kings 17:13 & 2 Kings 4:1-6 to take money from people. No – the anointing is available to cause a supernatural increase in every area of our lives, so you do not have to squeeze by through life.
In 1 Kings 17:13, we read; “And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.”
In the verse above, Elijah clearly asked the woman to bring from what she had. Clearly God had instructed Him to go to the woman and also prepared the woman’s heart to obey. She wasn’t under pressure to comply, she only believed. If you ever feel pressured to give, you ‘d be better of not giving. God does not need anybody’s money or resources. He will never force you or put you under pressure to give what you do not have. In fact, even if you have, He will never pressure you to give.
For this cause He said in 2 Corinthians 9:7; “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
Giving with the wrong motive, grudging and unwillingly will not bring you any harvest. Many are just giving and not getting anything back because they are giving with the wrong motive. Some are also giving because the preacher said “give”, not because they believe. They are not giving in faith and thus are not entitled to a “return”.
The major cause of increase and prosperity in God’s Kingdom is obedience to God’s will
Let us look at Prophet Elisha in 2 Kings 4:1-6;
“So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house? …and she said “your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil. Then he [Elisha] said, “Go borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors – empty vessels; do not gather just a few. And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels and set aside the full ones. Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel”. And he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil stayed.”
She Gave All She Had!
As seen in the scripture above, Elisha was there ready to help this widow. He did not condemn her for her current debt or put her into more debt. Instead he asked, how can I help you? Interesting, he asked for “empty” vessels and when she brought them, they were filled up until there were no more vessels. Understand that God does not need your resources, but He asks for your faith. If you don’t have something to give, you don’t have to give; and God who sees all, sees your heart. You cannot impress God by borrowing to give into His house especially when you are not led to do so. You will only put yourself in debt. Even He calls us to apply wisdom.
Mark 12:43-44 “And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: …For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.”
Out of all who gave, the woman who cast the least was considered the greatest and the one who gave more. If we compare what she gave from what others gave, she gave very little but because this was ALL she had, the Lord said she gave more than others. It is not what you give but how you give it. Never borrow to give, give what you have, from the depth of your heart and the anointing will do the rest.
Conclusion
Many are borrowing to give God and sinking more into debt. Therefore, follow God and his commands and your need for borrowing will be minimized, if not eliminated. Be led by the Spirit to give. Don’t give under pressure or necessity. Give in faith and give what you have, and God will reward your giving.
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